Oct. 16, 2018

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --- Jefferson City 3, Rock Bridge 0.

District champions ... how sweet it is.

"We're super excited to win a district championship," fourth-year Lady Jays coach Zac Miller said. "At the beginning of the season, we asked the girls, 'What's an attainable goal you want to make?' The first thing that came to their mind was winning a district championship."

Goal achieved.

Okay, but now what?

You feel like you've won the race, but the race isn't finished.

"The thing now is to keep going and stay hungry," Miller said. "We're telling them not to be satisfied and I think they're re-focused, and hopefully the excitement will carry into Wednesday."

On the heels of their first district title in three years, the Lady Jays (18-8) will host Troy (23-4-1) in the Class 4 sectionals at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Vogel Field --- a rematch from a game just nine days ago on the same field.

That one didn't go well for the home team --- Troy 8, Jefferson City 2.

"We didn't play very well and we know we have some adjustments to make," Miller said. "We were coming off a long weekend (at the Carthage Invitational) and we threw our JV pitcher at them ... and there  was a little strategy involved there, too.

"We were anticipating that if we did get out of our district, we'd probably be playing them again. I'm hoping that's an advantage."

Here's a an unquestioned advantage Miller and the Lady Jays have had this season --- Ehren Earleywine, the new district athletic director and one of the most highly-regarded Division I college softball coaches in the country.

"As soon as he got hired," Miller said, "I started texting him. I told him, 'Man, I just want to pick your brain.' And he said his door was always open.

"At first, I was a little nervous, I thought he might second-guess everything I did. But in our first meeting, that was one of the first things he said: 'I'm not here to second guess you.' He made me feel comfortable from the get-go."

Earleywine, if you didn't know, is the winningest coach in the history of the University of Missouri --- in any sport. In 11 seasons with the Tigers, he won 482 games.

"We'll talk about different stuff, and we'll talk about some finer points of different scenarios," Miller said. "It's been great being able to have that resource and to be able to bounce ideas off him, I couldn't ask for anything better."

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THE PITCHER MILLER HELD BACK in the first meeting against Troy was senior Mychael Jett, a hurler who's been hot lately, including a two-hit shutout in Saturday's district finals.

"She's been pitching her tail off this year," Miller said, "especially as of late."

Jett's  been the staff's workhorse, as she's had a hand in 22 of the team's 26 decisions. She's 15-7 with an ERA of 1.93, but she's not a dominant pitcher --- just 88 strikeouts in 145 innings.

"She does a good job of moving the ball around, she pitches to contact, and the defense has been good behind her," Miller said. "Our infield defense is very solid and our outfielders are fast."

The most important thing about Jett's game, however, might be this:

"I had a coach tell me a couple weeks ago, 'She is a competitor,'" Miller said. "'She competes every inning of every game.'"

Offensively, there's no secret to the Lady Jays success: sophomore Kara Daly, the No. 3 hitter, and junior Megan Green in the clean-up spot.

"We've got two big sticks in the middle of our lineup and with those two clicking, it's been a fun ride to watch," Miller said. "Teams have to decide if they want to pitch to Kara or Megan right behind her, they've got to pick their poison."

In her last 10 games, the imposing 6-foot Daly has produced numbers you don't produce in slowpitch softball --- 13 hits, eight home runs and 16 RBI. Again, that's in 10 games.

"She's just been going crazy and she's a phenomenal kid, to boot," Miller said of Daly, who now has 22 career home runs for the Lady Jays. "That's made it even more fun."

Daly is hitting .481 with 12 homers, seven doubles, 27 RBI, and 17 walks --- many of those intentional. It was her solo home run to center in the district championship game that broke open a scoreless tie in the fourth inning.

"That helped kind of open the flood gates," Miller said, "and gave us confidence up and down the lineup."

Green is hitting .455 with five home runs and 32 RBI, and she's only struck out three times in 88 official at-bats. For a batter who hits for power, that is something.

"Megan's been solid all season," Miller said, "and she started off on fire (including an eight-RBI game against Fatima, a top-10 single-game effort in state history). She can hit tough pitching and she's been doing a great job."

Other top threats include freshman Addison Morgan (.382), junior Abi Karr (.320), and sophomore Reece Desimone (.304, team-high nine doubles.)

You probably noticed this team is young. Jett is the only senior starter, and the starting lineup includes two sophomores and one freshman, while the rest are juniors.

To say the future looks bright would be an understatement.

But first things first ... goal reached or not.

"You don't want to say that since we met our goal," Miller said, "that everything past that is just icing on the cake. Who knows what's going to happen, especially this time of year? There are already some really good teams who are sitting at home on the couch.

"Once you get to this point in the season, you never know --- you just lace them up every time and go out there and play your hardest."

That, after all, is the ultimate goal. Winning doesn't hurt, either.

Goal met, now what? Lady Jays
getting set for bout against Troy

The Jefferson City Lady Jays celebrate their 3-0 district championship game win over Rock Bridge on Saturday in Columbia. Next up: A home game against Troy in the Class 4 sectionals Wednesday.

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